The thought of playing in his first-ever finals hasn’t crept into Zach Parise's mind.

"Not at all. That’s a long ways away," the Devils’ captain said. "It’s gonna be hard. There’s still a lot of work to be done."

Parise and Elias both said they didn’t watch the Kings beat the Coyotes in overtime on Tuesday night.

"I shut it off after the second period so I didn’t see it," Parise said.

"I got a little baby to wake up with in the morning," Elias said.

The Devils know Game 5 of their Eastern Conference finals series with the Rangers will be a pivotal game. The winner moves one step from advancing to the finals, while the loser moves one step from going home empty-handed.

The Devils may have won Game 4 handily, but, so far, momentum has meant nothing in this series.

The Devils have arguably outplayed the Rangers in all but two periods during the series. But Henrik Lundqvist has been the best player on the ice in two of the first four games, which is why the series is even at two.

"We have to play the same way we played last game," Kovalchuk said. "We have to be aggressive. We have to forecheck well and control our emotions."